


His Jaime

by bluepulsebluepulse



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Bart Allen - Freeform, Bart Allen/Jaime Reyes - Freeform, Bluepulse, Jaime Reyes - Freeform, M/M, Some of it is canonical but some it of it has been tweaked to suit my needs, Speedbuggy, This is just a mosty angsty but shot of fluffly at the end fic, i guess read it if you are bored, so be cautioned coz im moody as hell, this fic is so angsty, this fic reflects my mood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-07-10 04:31:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 12,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19899877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluepulsebluepulse/pseuds/bluepulsebluepulse
Summary: SPOILERS FOR YOUNG JUSTICE SEASONS 1, 2 & 3 - Stop reading now if you want to remain spoiler free.Although there aren't really spoilers, just a relationship one and that's practically it.I mean it's not my best work. But whatever. I wrote it. May as well post it. I have another fic idea I want to start writing soon and I'm actually excited about that one.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is how Season 3 should end given that they didn't jump straight to making Bluepulse canon in it. Grandon what even, agree to meet me and I'll tell you why this ship NEEDS to be canon.
> 
> But yeh apologizing in advance for adding Traci to this fic. I don't like her at all. But don't worry this is a BLUEPULSE fic. So hopefully it's worth the read. It is pretty angsty tho so if you like fluff don't read it...

“Is anyone home?” Bart yelled as he walked into the Allen family home.

Bart stood in silence as he waited with baited breath in the silence. After a few seconds of no response, he breathed a sigh of relief.

_Thank god._

Bart sped up to his room and sat on his bed, and now knowing it was safe to do so, cried. It had been a particularly trying time for poor Bart. He’d been struggling with his feelings for Jaime. To tell him or not to tell him?

It was too much. Keeping it all bottled up inside. He already had a troubled past and he lived everyday wondering whether it would be last. He effectively did things impulsively because you never knew if you would have the chance to do so otherwise. And to come back to the past and have to adapt to the world of procrastination, was really hard.

_How do they do it? How can they put things off so easily and just hope that they will get around to it before their time is up?_

Bart clenched a fist and hit his quilt. Admittedly Bart was scared too. Worried Jaime wouldn’t feel the same way. He had never really shown any interest in guys. There were a few signs here and there that Bart noticed; that gave him hope but not enough to instill full confidence in his pursuit of Jaime.

_I can’t keep doing this. I need to tell Jaime. I’ll be able to cope if he rejects me. Surely? I mean I come from the modest past in history. Surely I can handle one simple rejection. Jaime wouldn’t give up on our friendship either. I know Jaime. He wouldn’t do that. But if he says no things will be awkward for a while but then they will return back to normal. I’ve got to do this._

Bart felt physically ill at the thought of telling Jaime. But he had made his choice. He wasn’t sure when he would do it. But for now he was going to ride out the emotional roller coaster he was on.

Bart laid down on his bed and wriggled until he was comfortable and stared at the wall not actually taking into account what he could see but rather sifting through all sorts of thoughts he had in his mind until he unknowingly drifted off into sleep.

Bart awoke to the sound of his phone vibrating.

Bart moaned a little as he was feeling very groggy.

He saw his phone vibrating but decided to let it go. He wanted more sleep. It didn’t take long for him to drift back to sleep.

The next time Bart was woken, he was pleasantly surprised by his company.

“Ese wake up!”

Bart could hear Jaime’s voice distant.

When the dots connected Bart awoke immediately knowing now that Jaime was by his side.

In fact, Jaime leaned back in surprise when Bart bolted upright.

“Jaime!” Bart exclaimed.

Bart leaned over and hugged Jaime.

“Ese you won’t believe what happened!”

“What?” Bart said shining a bright smile happy to see Jaime so happy.

“I have a girlfriend!”

“Wait what?” Bart said in disbelief as his brain and heart were given whiplash as if he had been in some sort of car accident. He had to try and process the words. It took a moment and he didn’t ever hear Jaime repeat himself.

Bart shuddered and tensed to try and make it less visible.

Unfortunately Jaime noticed, “Hermano are you okay?”

“Yeh I am fine. Just sort of stretching because I just… woke… up…” Bart slowly trotted through the sentence.

“Oh. Yeh sorry about waking you up ese!” Jaime laughs clearly having bought Bart’s lie.

“Umm… well I’m happy for you…” Bart said almost ending the sentence with his nickname for Jaime but he couldn’t bring himself to.

“Thanks hermano.” Jaime said as he chalked down Bart’s lack of enthusiasm to having just woken up.

Bart needed to get away. He needed to scream or cry or both. But he couldn’t, not with Jaime right there. Usually when Bart needed alone time he would come to his bedroom. But now that Jaime was sitting on his bed in his room, he felt like he had nowhere to go.

_Quick Bart, think!_

“Oh no! I’m running late for a chill-hang with Wally and Artemis!” Bart lied.

He zipped around his room and got into costume to sell the charade.

“Oh did you want me to come with?” Jaime offered.

“Nah it’s cr- cool.” Bart said.

Jaime became slightly suspicious of the fact that Bart had just said ‘cool’ instead of ‘crash’. Bart never said ‘cool’. The only reason Jaime didn’t read into it more was because he was so excited about his new girlfriend.

“We can talk more later hermano!” Bart said flashing one last smile and running out of the room.

Jaime sighed. He was admittedly underwhelmed with Bart’s lack of joy. He had been hoping he and his best friend could talk about his new girlfriend and chill-hang. This had not gone how he expected at all. He decided to go back home and tell his family. At least they would give him the reaction he wanted.

Meanwhile Bart ran, he ran hard and he ran fast. He was amassing speed increasingly and didn’t even notice that he was now running faster than he ever had before until suddenly he was in another dimension. He was in the speed force.

It was a weird place. He could still see and hear the world around him. But he couldn’t physically interact with it. He panicked when he realized he was in a different dimension. He wasn’t even aware he could run fast enough to enter it. He knew where he was though. He had heard stories about it from Wally back in his past before coming to the future.

He ran as hard as he could and broke out of the speed force and luckily entered back into the real world. Bart was shaking as he came to terms he was back in the real world. It was quite terrifying not knowing if you could make it back. He tried to steady his breathing now as he breathed a sigh of relief.

Bart wondered if he should tell anyone about his newly found ability. He decided to tell Barry and nobody else.

Bart ran home and was conscious to keep his maximum speed to that of what he usually ran at fearing an accidental crossover into the speed force yet again.

Bart quickly made sure Jaime had left his house, which he thankfully had, before finding Barry in the living room.


	2. Chapter 2

“Hey gramps!” Bart nervously tried to exclaim.

“Hey Bart?” Barry cautioned noticing the nerves in his tone and eyes.

“Wait! What’s wrong? What did you do?” Barry mocked in that parental way.

“Nothing!” Bart screeched in his defense.

“But… I sort of discovered I can do something I didn’t actually know how to do?” Bart worded with his head tilted clearly showing him putting thought into his choice of words.

“Was it the ability to clean your room?” Barry joked.

“Real funny gramps!” Bart sarcastically. “No seriously though, I mean with my powers.”

“What is it?” Barry ogled with curiosity.

“Umm… you know the speed force?” Bart asked.

“Of course I do. Wait… No… You don’t… You can’t mean…” Barry stuttered.

“Yeh. I can enter and exit it, it would seem.” Bart teetered nervously.

“Wow. Well Bart please don’t go there anymore. The more you visit or the longer you stay the harder it is to will yourself to leave. I can’t believe you ran fast enough to enter it. Even I can barely do that, I certainly couldn’t at your age.” Barry said with astoundment.

“I’m faster than you?” Bart questioned in disbelief gesturing at his chest with his thumb in a slow motion to match his thought processing speed about this particular piece of information.

“It would certainly seem that way kid.” Barry said with a smile ruffling his hair affectionately to show he was proud.

“Crash.” Bart muttered.

Barry gave him a hug. “You know I expect great things from you kid!”

“I know!” Bart said laughing a little.

“So do I get to tell everyone I’m faster than you.” Bart said raising an eyebrow.

Barry laughed, “I think we should keep this to ourselves for now.”

“Okay.” Bart mused letting his teasing stop there when he ordinarily would have pressed on. He only stopped because Jaime was starting to cloud his conscience again.

“Umm... sorry gramps I have to go see a friend. I gotta run.” 

Barry grinned and waved goodbye despite the fact Bart was starting to leave.

“Show off!” Barry called out after Bart jokingly.

Bart smiled as he caught the remark and continued running.

He took a deep breath. He had time to think in the speed force. He figured he might not be hapy about Jaime having a girlfriend but he did love to see Jaime happy, and ultimately, even if he couldn’t have Jaime for himself, he still wanted Jaime to be happy. He loved Jaime. He was a good guy. He deserved happiness.

_This is going to be so hard. I'm gonna be so moded._

“Hey Blue!” Bart hollered at Jaime as he opened the door after Bart knocking on it relentlessly.

“Hey Bart, come in.” Jaime sounded kind of flat.

Bart raced up to Jaime’s room and took a seat on his bed which is where they always sat. Jaime not having super speed trudged up the stairs slowly. Bart realized he wouldn’t be able to sit on this bed much longer knowing how Jaime and his girlfriend would defile it and he didn’t want to sit on the bed after that.

“So what brings you here?” Jaime said.

Bart could tell Jaime was off. Probably annoyed with him for his earlier response.

“I wanted to start by saying sorry. I didn’t make time for you this morning and I should have been there for you when you needed me.” Bart said looking down at his feet.

“Thanks Bart. Truthfully I was little hurt because you didn’t seem to care. But funnily enough what does it matter. My family didn’t seem to care either.” Jaime said his initial spark of a smile at Bart’s apology quickly fading as he said the rest.

“Why?” Bart said looking up confused.

“Well… my pa was really happy but ma clearly wasn’t. She tried to be happy and fake a smile but I caught her mumbling something. When I asked her about it she refused to tell me what she said. And milagro well she didn’t care but that I at least expected.”

“That’s odd.” Bart mused.

“I thought so too.” Jaime said also going deep in thought.

“Well tell me about this lucky girl hermano!” Bart said through a slight crack in his throat.

“I don’t know if I would call her lucky.” Jaime chuckled.

“What do you mean!?!” Bart quipped, “You are quite the catch Jaime!” Bart said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Yeh okay.” Jaime scoffed like it was the stupidest thing in the world to say.

Bart took pity on Jaime given he truly couldn’t see how great he was. He hoped that this new girlfriend would at least highlight that for him.

“So what’s her name?” Bart asked painfully knowing full well he didn’t want to know.

“Traci.” Jaime said smiling.

“Traci huh?” Bart mused.

“Yeh I met her through Zatanna. Zatanna is training her so that she can join the team some day. She happened to be in the watchtower and she saw me and asked me out right on the spot!” Jaime said in utter disbelief but smiling as it was an accomplishment nonetheless in his eyes.

“Wow.” Bart said shocked himself.

“I can’t wait for you to meet her!” Jaime said smiling at Bart.

Little did he know that smile was killing Bart. And that next line very nearly did.

_I don’t want to meet Traci! That would be the modest thing I’ve ever done!_

Bart hid the panic going on the back of his head as he thought about how he was going to somehow have to manage to remain polite and courteous to this girl who had stolen Jaime from him. He wasn’t even in denial about the fact that he was jealous.

All the while Jaime was also imagining two of the most special people in his life meeting and imagining it very differently to Bart.

_Bart is going think Traci is so crash! And I just know they are going to get along so well!_


	3. Chapter 3

Bart heard a knock at the door. He was at home in his pajamas that evening.

“Coming!” he yelled as he yanked open the door.

“Mrs Reyes!” Bart yelled in surprise.

“Hi Bart. May I come in?”

“Sure!” Bart said his mind ticking over in shock.

“Take a seat anywhere!” Bart gestured awkwardly with open arms around the living room as he tried to think of a reason for Jaime’s mother having come to visit him.

“Gracias.” she cooed as she took a seat. She gestured with a hand to the seat next to her and Bart knew she wanted him to sit next to her.

Bart nervously sat in the seat across from hers.

“What brings you hear?” Bart asked trying to think of a time he had every felt more awkward in his life.

“I came to speak to you Bart. It’s about Jaime.” she confessed.

“Okay…” Bart cautiously waited.

“You have to promise me you won’t repeat any of this to him.” she looked sternly at Bart.

And by god was he terrified of an angry Mrs Reyes. He swallowed, taking a moment, “I mean I don’t want to promise because he is my best friend but I won't tell him if he doesn’t need to know.”

Bart was surprised when Bianca smiled back at him. He was expecting her to press for him to promise her but she just smiled. Bart wondered what she was thinking.

_Even now Bart has my son’s back._

“Okay. Well… I personally don’t think this new relationship of his is going to last. And I am worried he is going to get hurt.”

Bart’s eyes widened in surprise.

“What makes you say that?” Bart stammered.

“This Traci girl asked Jaime out before even finding out what his name was! I think she is just using him. And Jaime won’t listen to me because he thinks he knows better than me. And personally, I think there is someone he should be with.”

“Wow.” Bart said as he processed the new information. Jaime hadn’t mentioned she had been that quick before jumping straight to business. Bart was conflicted. He was happy to hear that Jaime and Traci had a chance of not lasting because it meant Bart might have a chance at Jaime but at the same time he was worried about Jaime getting hurt. Although Bart wasn’t even sure if he stood a chance at Jaime anyway given he was probably straight but that doesn’t take away from Bart not wanting to see Jaime get hurt.

Bart knew Jaime would be completely invested in this relationship and that it would destroy him if it didn’t last.

Bart also wondered whether Bianca had someone in mind when she had mentioned she thought Jaime should be with someone else or if she had meant it generically. Either way he didn’t ask.

“Well what can I do?” Bart asked.

“I shouldn’t even be asking this of you. But, he won’t listen to me so I was hoping you might be able to take a crack at getting Jaime to see that this girl is probably using him.” Bianca looked disappointed in herself for asking.

“I can give it a try I guess.” Bart offered.

“Gracias Bart!” she smiled.

“Bianca! What are you doing here?” Iris asked in surprise.

She stood up quickly and opened her mouth to speak.

“Oh no. Did Bart break something else?” she asked apologetically.

Bart shot Iris an offended look which she didn’t see.

“No no no. I actually came to thank him for helping me clean the house the other day!” Bianca lied.

“Oh. Really?” Iris asked in disbelief.

“Yes grandma! Is it so hard to believe that I helped clean up?” Bart asked annoyedly trying to sell the act.

“Well yeah.” she faltered, “Bianca would you like to come join me in the kitchen for a drink?”

“Yes that would be lovely. It will be nice to catch up.” Bianca smiled as she followed Iris out of the room.

Bart sat still trying to absorb everything that had just happened.

He had essentially just promised Jaime’s mother that he would try to break Jaime and Traci up or at least get Jaime to see the air of his ways.

_This is not going to be easy._

Bart slumped his head on his wrist.

Bart’s phone started vibrating in his pocket. Jaime was calling him.

“Hello?” Bart answered.

“Hey hermano! Can you come over later tonight?”” Jaime asked.

“Sure.” Bart said still feeling weird about the whole Bianca coming to visit him thing.

“Crash! Traci is coming over later tonight and I want you to meet her!”

_Great. I committed to it before knowing all the details. Great going Bart. You just let yourself get ambushed._

Bart remained silent as he wrestled with these thoughts until he realized this was inevitable anyway.

“Bart? Are you alright?” Jaime asked.

“Oh yeah. Sorry just distracted, the television is on.” Bart lied.

“Oh, sorry I didn’t mean to interrupt!” Jaime apologized.

“Nah it’s crash! I better go but I’ll come over at say 7pm?” Bart asked.

“Awesome! That’s exactly when I was thinking of anyway!” Jaime laughed.

Bart smiled hearing Jaime laugh.

“Alright see you then!” Bart said able to finish the phone call of with a little enthusiasm.


	4. Chapter 4

Bart had dressed nicely because he wanted to make a good impression on Traci because honestly, Bart didn’t know how long she would be in their lives for. Bart remembered his promise to Bianca and ultimately, he knew it his chances of getting Jaime to think logically were very low. So if he was going to be stuck with Traci, he at least wanted to get off on the right foot with her.

Bart ran over to Jaime’s and arrived at exactly 7pm.

Traci opened the door.

Bart was immediately thrown off as he was expecting Jaime to answer. He nearly puked. This was not something he wanted to become a common occurrence.

“Hi. You must be Traci.” he managed to get out somehow.

Bart scanned her up and down. She was somehow not what he was expecting. She had long brown hair and freckles on her cheeks. She had brown eyes and a solemn facial expression. She was also dressed very casually in just jeans and a shirt. She clearly wasn’t trying to make an impression on Bart.

“Hi. Bart? Right?” she had said just as Jaime had keenly come bounding up behind her disappointed he had missed the beginning of their interaction.

“Bart! This is Traci. Traci. Bart” he said super excited.

“We know.” Traci said sighing as they had already gone over it.

Jaime was too excited to let it bother him.

The three stood there awkwardly for a moment.

“Let’s go inside!” Jaime said eagerly dragging Bart and Traci along behind him.

Once they had all sat down Bart remembered he wanted to make a good impression and he wasn’t exactly doing a lot to help with that. Neither was Traci mind you but Bart figured he wouldn’t let that stop him.

“So Traci! Tell me about yourself!” Bart asked in the most friendly tone he could manage.

“Well I’m the same age as you from what Jaime tells me. I have magical powers. Anddd I just found out from Nightwing this morning that I have officially joined the team!” she said looking over at Jaime waiting for a reaction since she had not told him yet.

“Seriously? That’s awesome!” Jaime exclaimed leaning over to hug her.

Bart nearly wretched at the sight.

_At least they didn’t kiss._

“Oh. Congratulations! I look forward to working alongside you sometime!” Bart faked with a smile.

“Same.” she smiled fakely too, “So you’re like a speedster? Like the Flash basically right?” she asked.

“Pretty much.” Bart offered.

She nodded thoughtfully as she processed the information.

Her phone rang and she pulled it out.

“Hi!” she exclaimed to whoever it was on the line.

Bart’s eyes widened seeing this level of happiness in her. He almost didn’t think she had it in her based on their first greeting.

“Yeh totally. I’m not doing anything important I’ll be right there.” she responded sweetly.

Bart’s eyes widened even more.

“Okay bye!” she sang holding the last syllable of each word.

“Sorry Jaime I have to go.” she aimed at him.

“Oh. Ok no worries.” Jaime said.

She got up and virtually darted towards the door.

“It was nice to meet you!” Bart called out after her.

Bart was appalled. Not only has she blown off meeting Jaime’s best friend which was important to him, but she hadn’t given Jaime a hug goodbye or even said goodbye to him or Bart!

_Bianca is right. This girl is bad news. She is going to mode Jaime._

Bart was startled out of his thoughts by Jaime who had now moved to sit next to him.

“Isn’t she great ese?” Jaime asked looking at Bart with wide eyes.

Bart nervously swallowed. Now was the time to go through with his promise he figured.

_Shit._

“Tell me what you think hermano, I really care about your opinion.” Jaime practically begged for an honest answer.

“Umm…” Bart said scratching the back of his head nervously.

“Honestly… I think you deserve... better…” Bart visibly flinched as he delivered the line.

“What?” Jaime said softly as he tried to process that Bart’s response was indeed negative not positive.

“Well I mean…” Bart quickly thought of an example he could provide to justify his response, “she didn’t even say good bye to either you or me before running out the door just now. That was kind of… rude.” Bart said carefully.

“Rude!” Jaime scoffed. “She was in a hurry ese! Dios mio why are you being such a jerk?” he snapped.

Tears sprang to Bart’s eyes in about a millisecond. In fact he didn’t think he had ever been so quick to tears in his life.

Jaime noticed and didn’t care. If anything he took it as a challenge to push Bart all the way over the edge because he was so angry that his best friend had no approved of his new girlfriend.

“And you know what? I don’t care what you think! I am going to keep dating Traci regardless of what you think! She loves me and she would do anything for me!” Jaime was yelling now. And the saddest part was, he believed every word he said.

“I think I should go.” Bart said standing up before zipping away.

Jaime shook his head and swore. He looked around and realized he was actually all alone right now. He decided to seek comfort in Milagro instead.

“Who needs him?” Jaime spat under his breath.

Bart did start crying but only once he got back home. Not only was he sure he had just lost his best friend, but he essentially could see Bianca was right. And now his promise to stop Jaime from getting hurt and resulted in the loss of his friendship with Jaime.


	5. Chapter 5

The next week for Bart was a living hell. He had to endure team missions with Jaime and Traci.

Nightwing had even considered taking Bart off the team because the tension was affecting his performance.

Bart decided to try and get back in Jaime’s good graces. He wasn’t even angry at Jaime. Bart knew all too well what being blinded by love could do. In fact, he viewed it similarly to Jaime being on mode. So Bart wasn’t mad at Jaime, just upset for him.

Bart spent hours trying to decide how he was going to try and get Jaime to forgive him. This is after all a very complicated and strategic game you have to play. Bart knew that he would have to lie and put on an act to succeed in his new mission. Similarly to his first mission.

Bart finally settled on a plan. He pulled out his phone and typed up a message. He went through a draft process making sure none of the words could be interpreted the wrong way. He even typed up the responses in advance in preparation for every conceivable response Jaime may have provided. If any.

Bart may be impulsive, but there’s one person whom he cares enough about to be anything but. To be meticulous, slow and strategic. Words that were scarcely used when describing Bart by other people. In fact, many people would have probably had difficulty believing Bart if he had told them how he spent all afternoon divising a solution to how to do damage control to win his best friend back.

He ignored the knots in his stomach and pressed send. The text read…

_Hey Blue, I’m really sorry for making you feel the mode about Traci. I guess when I thought about it, I was just jealous that you have a girlfriend and I don’t. I’m really sorry hermano, I truly am. I understand if you still need time and space from me. Hope you’re doing well. From Bart._

Bart shook his head in disgust that he had to stoop to lying and using jealously as his excuse to win his way back into Jaime’s affections.

A reply came back surprisingly quickly.

“All good hermano! Thanks for apologizing. I have actually missed you a lot this past week, did you want to come over tonight?”

_That was easy._

Bart replied and confirmed he would indeed come over to visit Jaime. His stomach simmered in uneasiness as he thought about continuing his act later that evening.

“Hey Jaime!” Bart chirped when he opened the door.

“Hey Bart.” Jaime said as Bart quickly hugged him before stepping back. It felt normal.

They both walked up to Jaime’s room a slight amount of awkwardness still in the air.

“So…” Jaime asked not sure where to begin.

Bart watched him fumble for words.

_Damn. I am going to have to somehow make this all better myself._

And with that thought Bart piped up, “Yeh I am really sorry about being a jerk. I was just kind of…” Bart began looking down timidly to sell the act, “...jealous.”

_This is sickening._

Bart did not like referring to himself as a jerk. He hadn’t done anything wrong. The things he did for Jaime.

“I guess I just am worried I’ll be single forever.” Bart gestured dramatically looking up to the sky.

Jaime chuckled as Bart had intended for before stating, “Don’t worry hermano, you’ll find a girl someday!”

Bart felt like throwing up.

“Crash!” he exclaimed.

It was times like this he had to remind himself he wasn’t thinking like his usual self. Jaime wouldn’t ordinarily assume such things, nor neglect to take the time to talk about it seriously. Once upon a time, Jaime would have asked questions about whether he was interested in someone already or what kind of traits he looked for and shown true care with the matter. But Jaime honestly didn’t care about anyone except for Traci at the moment due to his feelings for her clouding his judgement.

Bart was also irritated Jaime hadn’t apologized for acting like the so called jerk he entitled Bart as.

Nevertheless, Bart grinned and beared it.

After a few hours of watching movies and playing games it was clear that Bart had gotten Jaime to forgive him and had managed to get into his good graces again. But for Bart the whole ordeal was still sickening. He had managed to befriend a new version of Jaime. He missed the old Jaime. His Jaime This was not his Jaime.

The fact that he was suffering at the hands of a not-so-Jaime-Jaime only reminded him of a time where Jaime was the Blue Beetle from his past, the one version of Jaime Bart had come back in time to save Jaime from. And yet here he was in the past having to save Jaime from himself yet again.

It would have been different if Jaime had gotten into a healthy relationship with a girl, but his relationship was clearly anything but.

Jaime regaled Bart with stories about his dates with Traci, each one with at least one point to note that showed just how bad she was for him. And Jaime didn’t even seem the slightest bit annoyed about the ways she was mistreating him even though he had every right to be.

_Woah this girl has you completely hoodwinked hermano._

Bart shook his head sadly in time with losing a game so Jaime couldn’t attribute it to the real moment in conversation he had wished to use it.

“You know it felt very weird not having you showing up here almost every day to see me.” Jaime said during a moment of silence.

Bart smiled. He saw a glimpse of the old Jaime. His Jaime.

“It felt weird for me too.” Bart joked.

“Well I am glad that’s all water under the bridge.” Jaime said.

“Me too.” Bart concurred.

“I’m going to head to bed now, same time tomorrow?” Jaime asked.

“Sounds crash.” Bart replied.

And with that Bart dashed out at super speed.

When he got home he sat on the couch and turned on the television. He couldn’t concentrate on it. All he could think about was how close he came to losing Jaime. And all because of Traci.

It made Bart sad to think that one person could shake the foundation of such a strong friendship. Bart hoped that one day he would be able to solidify his friendship permanently. The thought of having to keep this up for years was unbearable. But he was willing, for Jaime.


	6. Chapter 6

A few months passed and Jaime’s feelings deepened for Traci. He was constantly dropping the L-bomb. Jaime was falling into the trap.

Bart had stayed strong and endured many painful missions and chill-hangs. The saddest part was now that Jaime wasn’t himself, he hardly made a difference between the levels of uncomfort Bart felt with or without Traci’s presence. Her presence was slightly worse, but not by a lot.

Bart was sitting with Jaime one day on a park bench as they had decided to get some fresh air instead of watching movies and playing games in Jaime’s bedroom.

Bart was sitting their absentmindedly thinking about his last interaction with Bianca.

Bianca had noticed Jaime saying he ‘loved’ Traci and had confronted Bart for an update on his mission. Bart recalled telling her about their falling out and how he was lying and pretending to get back into Jaime’s good graces. Much to Bart’s surprise, Bianca had started crying. He had never seen her cry before. She was always so composed. Bianca had firstly apologized for being responsible for almost destroying their friendship and thanked him for fighting so hard to help Jaime. She had looked like she wanted to say something but she refrained.

“Bart?” Jaime questioned for the third time.

“Yeh? Sorry I was somewhere else.” Bart quickly straightened to show he was paying attention.

Luckily Jaime laughed so he wasn’t annoyed, that Bart could tell.

“What were you thinking about?” Jaime asked curiously.

“Nothing interesting…” Bart responded.

“Oh come on! Tell me ese!” Jaime whinged.

Bart was lucky he was a quick in his brain as he was on his feet. He came up with question he genuinely wanted the answer to. He was very worried about how Jaime would take the question but decided to ask anyway.

“What does Khaji Da think about Traci?” Bart asked nonchalantly.

Jaime was caught off guard.

“He likes her!” Jaime said.

“Jaime Reyes you know full well I do not like Traci Thirteen.” Khaji Da chimed in his head.

“Yeh yeh yeh. You hate everybody!” Jaime laughed at Bart hoping he would join in knowing he would understand the joke. But Bart looked curiously back at him.

“Inaccurate. I do not hate everybody. I do dislike many people, one example of which is Traci Thirteen, but there are other humans who I feel neutral about.” Khaji Da said in a tone that almost sounded to have emotion in it. This peaked Jaime’s curiosity.

“Neutral huh?” Jaime said looking backwards towards his shoulder blade.

“Correct. Those who have your best interests are heart, and therefore our best interests at heart, are in my neutral list.”

“You have a list!” Jaime jeered whilst rolling his eyes with annoyance.

Bart all the while watching curiously trying to fill in the blanks.

“Affirmative.” Khaji Da replied.

“Who’s on this list!” Jaime spat wondering who apparently Khaji Da liked more than Traci. He hoped his mother would at least be on this list.

“Would you like me to read the list alphabetically or by preference?” Khaji Da asked sounding like one of the operators at a fast food speaker box.

“Preference!” Jaime snapped.

“Number 1. Bart Allen. He clearly cares for you more than any other-” Khaji Da began in his analytical tone before Jaime interrupted.

“What!? What is he-” Jaime began looking over at Bart before remembering he was literally beside him and could likely figure out the context of the conversation based on just Jaime’s dialogue. He kicked himself for not having spoken to Khaji Da in his mind where Bart couldn’t hear. But Jaime was so comfortable with Bart he usually just spoke aloud to Khaji Da when around him.

“I have to go.” Jaime quickly directed at Bart as he stood up and began walking away quickly pulling his hoodie over his head.

“Jaime wait!” Bart called out as he pondered whether to chase after Jaime or not. He decided not to. Jaime clearly had things to work out with Khaji Da which would be best done alone.

From what Bart had pieced together, it sounded like Khaji Da didn’t like Traci either. It almost sounded like he had said he liked Bart the most. Bart couldn’t have been entirely certain of it but it certainly appeared that way.

Bart dashed home meanwhile Jaime had a lengthy conversation with Khaji Da. He got very angry at the scarab.

“You’re wrong Khaji Da!” Jaime scolded.

“Traci hasn’t said she loves you once.” Khaji Da stated.

“Just because she hasn’t said it doesn’t mean she doesn’t feel it. Besides I have a plan that I think might get her to say it. And then you will see I’m right.” Jaime challenged.

Khaji Da didn’t bother responding. He knew it was pointless.

When Jaime did get home it was dinner time and he joined his family at the dinner table and had invited Traci over too.

After eating dinner Jaime asked, “What’s for dessert ma?”

“Nothing.” she stated back calmly.

“What do you mean?” Jaime gasped.

“I didn’t feel like making any. If you or Traci would like some feel free to make some.”

Jaime was astounded. Then embarrassed. He was worried how this would like to Traci.

Khaji Da informed Jaime that his mother was angry with him hence the withdrawal of dessert.

Jaime rolled his eyes and chose not to ask. He had had enough arguing today so he took Traci by the hand and decided to lead her up to his room.

Downstairs Bianca was fuming over how shortsighted her son was being.

Bart was also sitting home alone also resenting Jaime for the hoops he was making him jump through to get him back. It was still worth it. But that didn’t make this any easier on Bart.

Khaji Da wished he still had partial control over Jaime so he could force a gun down and Jaime’s arm to shoot a plasma gun at Traci when she flicked the scarab on Jaime’s back jokingly. Jaime was so thankful Zatanna had managed to repeal all control to Jaime with that spell she had used on him and Green Beetle. Sometimes Jaime still worried about it though.


	7. Chapter 7

It was only a few hours before the big surprise. Jaime was giddy. Jaime had went to elaborate lengths to set up a surprise birthday party for Traci. He had even gotten Khaji Da to hack into her phone so that he could acquire a list of contacts to send invitations out to since he didn’t really know any of Traci’s friends outside of the team. She had only introduced him to her family.

Khaji Da had found messages he wished to share the content with Jaime but Jaime refused to hear them. Khaji Da tried to press just how alarming the information was but Jaime was too much of a gentleman to cross that line.

He had spent all day hanging up banners in his house, blowing up balloons and putting streamers on everything in sight. He purchased magic themed ornaments for the table and even got a customized table cloth with her name on it for the dining room table.

Jaime had invited Bart, who almost died upon seeing the theatrics Jaime had gone to.

Jaime introduced himself to all her family and friends as they came in.

Jaime’s heart broke a little when a large portion of them had said they had never even heard of him.

But he buried it deep.

He urged everyone to hide and be quiet as he waited for her to arrive.

Everyone hid in silence and people began to get irritated after crouching and being silent after about 10 minutes because Traci had decided to rock up late.

When she knocked, Jaime let her in and everybody jumped out yelling surprise.

She was genuinely shocked. Looked rather happy until she spotted someone in the crowd in particular and then looked mortified. She tried her best to hide in but being a speedster Bart noticed it.

She immediately left Jaime’s side and started saying hello to everyone really quickly until she arrived at one of her friends. Natasha Irons.

Bart watched curiously as Traci walked away with Natasha out of sight, both of them looking slightly disconcerted.

He was about to follow when Jaime came up to him not wanting to look alone as he was left standing their awkwardly on his own.

“Thanks for coming hermano.” Jaime said.

“Thanks for inviting me!” Bart grinned convincingly.

“You sure went to a lot of effort with all the decorations and everything.” Bart said as he looked in every direction because honestly every direction provided an example of just that.

“Yeh I know. She is going to love it. Well will love it. Did love it.” Jaime stammered realizing she hadn’t actually commented on it at all yet, or well anything. She had just immediately left his side.

“I hope she thanks you later because you put in so much effort.” Bart said in the most tactful way possible.

“Yeh she will. It will be worth it hermano. I reckon she will finally say that she…” Jaime trailed off but Bart knew the end to that sentence.

Jaime quickly changed the subject, “Have you seen the cake I made her?”

“Nope.” Bart responded trying not to roll his eyes.

_He even made her cake from scratch. Oh Jaime. What are you doing to yourself!?_

Jaime ushered Bart into the kitchen and opened the fridge door to reveal a whopping cake. It was a magician’s hat cake.

“Wow.” Bart was able to convincingly say because he was genuinely surprised. It was perhaps the first genuine reaction he had let slip through all night.

Later after all the guests had eaten the delicious cake Jaime had made, Traci decided to open all her presents at the table with everyone gathered around her.

Jaime asked her to open his first. So she did. She put on a show for the crowd to demonstrate how much she loved the necklace he had bought her with a wand on it. Jaime beamed thinking he had finally done something right only for his face to visibly falter when she put in the same amount of gushing and happiness for the next gift she had been given, borderline more. And it was just a book.

Only Bart and Bianca had noticed as they were the only two watching his face.

And yet he quickly submerged the disappointment look and kept smiling.

Bart watched this night reappear throughout the night as Traci asked to have her photo taken with the guests, but not with Jaime. Bart wasn’t asked but that didn’t bother him in the slightest.

At the end of the night, Traci’s parents took her home and her last and only words to Jaime that whole night came out, “Goodnight Jaime, sleep well.”

Jaime smiled and hugged her shutting the door softly behind her. But his shoulders jumped. He was still staring at the door. Bart and Bianca who were still there shared a look of concern.

Neither of them were sure they wanted to see Jaime’s facial expression. There was something scary about the way his shoulders had jumped. There was something hostile about the way his shoulders had jumped so sharply.

When Jaime turned around his shoulders dropped and his head so his face wasn’t all that visible.

“Goodnight ma. Goodnight Bart.” he stated eerily softly before heading directly up the stairs to his bedroom.

Bart decided to follow and walked in to see Jaime crying on his bed.

“Blue blue blue!” Bart said sympathetically in quick succession dashing over to sit beside him and immediately wrap one arm around him and rub soothing circles on his back with the other.

“What’s wrong?” Bart asked knowing full well what the issue was.

“She didn’t even say thank you.” Jaime sobbed.

Bart knew she hadn’t but seeing her actions reduce Jaime to tears like this made his blood boil.

“I know.” Bart stated flatly. He wanted to say more but didn’t risk it.

Bart waited for Jaime to say something more, but he didn’t. He just sat there and very, very, very quietly hummed as Bart rubbed circles into his back.

Neither of them moved and eventually Jaime fell asleep in Bart’s arms.

Bart hadn’t been aware but Bianca had been watching through the crack in the door.

Bart layed Jaime down gently on the bed and lifted the quilt over him to keep him warm.

When Bianca saw Bart coming she pretended to walk in at the moment.

“Oh. Sorry Mrs Reyes, I didn’t see you there. I’m on my way home now. Goodnight.” Bart stated.

“Buenas noches Bart.” Bianca smiled at Bart sweetly.


	8. Chapter 8

The next time Bart saw Jaime he had carried on about how he had forgiven Traci and that maybe she hadn’t thanked him because he had come on strong and didn’t want to encourage him. Bart remembers mentally scoffing.

_The things you are coming up with to justify the fact that she simply doesn’t care about you._

And just when he thought he couldn’t be angrier about the situation, Bart found himself livid.

He was currently in the watchtower tapping his foot so quickly he was actually starting to cause the carpet under his foot to fray.

“Woah!” Cassie hissed as she walked in to the recreational room.

“Bart stop! You’re ruining the carpet!” she pleaded.

“What! Oh? Sorry!” Bart said with a look on his face to show he was genuine.

“What’s wrong?” Cassie asked.

“I just need to confront someone about something. I am worried it won’t end well.” Bart confessed without including names.

“Oh. Well I mean I can accompany you if you want?” Cassie offered.

“Thanks. That’s so crash of you to offer but I really should do this alone.” Bart smiled.

“Recognized, B-twenty-nine, Traci Thirteen.” the distant sound of a zeta tube announced.

Bart used his super speed to approach Traci leaving a stunned Cassie still standing there.

“Hey Traci! Uhh… can we talk?” Bart asked nervously worried that someone would walk in on this conversation.

She folded her arms, “Sure.”

“Well, I don’t want to sound mean or anything, but you didn’t thank Jaime for all the effort he put into planning your birthday party. I think he was kind of… hurt by that.” Bart said with a genuine tone that clearly conveyed he wasn’t trying to upset her.

“Honestly, my relationship with Jaime is none of your business.” she said looking unimpressed.

“I know. I just felt the need to say something. Can you please just make more of an effort with Jaime. He is a very sensitive guy.” Bart said sadness dripping in his tone as he thought about his Jaime, the one he missed desperately.

“So now you know my boyfriend better than me?” she challenged.

“Well honestly, I would say that is probably true.” Bart replied cautiously.

“Whatever.” she scoffed as she started walking away.

Bart followed her slowly and non-intrusively but he was getting annoyed by her ignorance and began to let it show.

“You didn’t even spend any time with Jaime that whole night, you spent most of it with Natasha and your other friends!”

Traci span around at the drop of Natasha’s name and sent a blast of magical energy at Bart. He just managed to dodge it and she continued expelling more blasts in annoyance that she wasn’t able to hit Bart. Unfortunately Bart suddenly noticed Cassie watching in horror and got distracted causing one of the purple bolts to hit his shoulder and burn him.

“Stay out of it!” she warned before storming off quickly.

Cassie immediately ran over to Bart.

“Are you okay?” she said worriedly.

“Yeh. I’m fine. It will heal quickly enough, speedster healing remember?” Bart grinned.

“What the hell Bart! This isn’t funny! I should go and teach that little brat a lesson-” Cassie turned before she felt Bart grab her arm and heard him wince.

“Don’t! Promise you won’t say anything to Jaime or anyone else!” Bart said with a tone of seriousness Cassie had never heard from the speedster before.

“But-” she tried.

“Promise!” Bart sternly reiterated.

“Fine!” she begrudged, “But that was not crash! You were only sticking up for Jaime and she went off like that!?”

“I’ll be fine honestly.” Bart reassured her. He hadn’t realized Cassie had overheard everything.


	9. Chapter 9

After his last encounter with Traci, Bart had finally decided he had had enough. Bart decided to confront Jaime one last time. He was strong but even he didn’t think he could withstand this much longer.

All the acting and lying. Bart was over it.

“Jaime.” Bart said sternly as he walked into his room.

“Yes Bart?” Jaime said a little stunned by his tone.

“I need you to seriously listen to me.” Bart said remaining dead still in front of him. In fact it was scaring Jaime a little bit not see the speedster fidgeting or moving even if it was some kind of minor movement. But he remained as still as a statue.

“Okay.” Jaime swallowed.

“Traci does not love you. Not like you love her anyway. She is using you, presumably for the status of being able to say she has a boyfriend. But she honestly doesn’t care about you. She is constantly prioritising others over you. She didn’t even thank you for anything you did on your birthday! She is just so unappreciative of everything you have to offer. You deserve better. Someone who appreciates you.” Bart stated firmly only finally moving to gesture towards Jaime to enforce his last point.

“Bart. I thought we had been over this.” Jaime stated the annoyance washing over his face.

“Jaime why can’t you see that she is just using you!” Just go your separate ways now! She is causing you pain and I don’t like watching it!” Bart snapped.

“Bart. You’re the only one causing me any pain! Now get out!” Jaime said standing up pointing at his door as he yelled.

“Fine.” Bart dashed away leaving an angry Jaime to throw a few things around his room in anger, he even broke a book shelf and sent it crashing to the floor. He immediately stopped when Bianca came running up the stairs concerned after hearing the sound.

Bart didn’t even notice, but he had ran so hard and so fast to release his anger he had accidentally ran into the speed force again.

He stopped and admired the world form the different dimension. It oddly gave him peace despite how angered he had been moments ago. Knowing he was alone in that dimension. Just him. For him to scream as loudly as he wanted. To say whatever he wanted to say without fear of anyone overhearing it. To be invisible. It felt… refreshing.

Bart decided he would finally release all his thoughts out aloud and to also say the one thing he had never said out aloud before.

After a while of yelling and screaming and crying about everything from his return to the past to his argument with Jaime just a few moments prior, he finally said the words out aloud, “I love you Jaime. I love you more than anyone else in this entire world. I wish you loved me back too, but I don’t think you do, or ever will. I think it’s time for me to move on.”

Bart decided after a while of laying deep in thought in the middle of a forest which he had ended up in during his entrance to the speed force, that he would go and watch the world through the speed force, starting with Barry and Iris.

He didn’t even think for a moment about the consequences that spying on people from another dimension could have.

When he got to the Allen home in the speed force, he observed everything about it and it all felt different from another dimension. He felt removed from his home. It made him sad. He navigated into the kitchen to see Iris on the phone. By impulse, he went to hug her upon seeing her but faded right through her. He had forgotten he had no physical bearing on the real world from the speed force.

It was in that moment he realized the magnitude of his decision to leave. Bart wanted to go home. He may have lost Jaime for good, but that didn’t mean he had to lose his family. He had ironically gotten swept up his feelings for Jaime and had also acted irrationally. He mentally berated himself for it.

He started running to break through the barrier to return home and as his molecules began to fade back into the real world he found himself slowly being sucked back into the speed force.

“What!? No!? Wait!?” Bart screamed as he felt himself being torn back as if helpless and stuck in a rip.

He stood still. He tried again and experienced the same result. He started to panic now. He tried a few more times before he gave up realizing he wasn’t going to make it through. He started crying.

_What have I done?_

Bart repeated the question on his mind.

He tried to understand why he couldn’t get back home. And then he remembered his conversation with Barry who had warned him of the speed force. He remembered their conversation when he had gone into great detail about the immense amount of will that was required to make it back home.

“Of course!” Bart said hitting his head in a ‘Hello Megan’ kind of way.

_If I think about my family surely that will get me back!_

Bart thought about his family and ran as hard as he could. He again found himself getting close to phasing out by ultimately pulled back.

_Okay well if not my family then I guess I have to think about Jaime?_

Bart flooded his mind with thoughts of Jaime. He got even further out of the speed force only to be pulled back by his toes.

He tried a few more times thinking about Jaime but his will wasn’t strong enough.

The pin dropped. If Jaime and his family weren’t enough to get him out of the speed force, he was well and truly stuck.

Bart decided to run back to his house and just observe his family go about their business. He wanted to feel close to them.

He watched them heartbroken when later the next day the two were showing clear signs of concern that Bart hadn’t returned home. It was often Bart didn’t come home at night but he was usually back the next day, or he at least would have messaged them.

It had now been about 3 days and Bart watched in horror as his family grew even sicker with worry not knowing his whereabouts. They had feared something had gone with a mission and had immediately contacted the League and Nightwing to inquire about any missions Bart may have gone on.

It didn’t take long for word to get out that Bart was missing.

Bart decided to stop watching his family and follow the lives of random civilians because watching his family was too painful.

Upon hearing the news Cassie went to speak to Jaime about the news. She wanted to make sure he was doing okay and coping with the news.

Cassie wandered through the watchtower in the hopes Jaime was there and luckily he was.

She immediately approached him.


	10. Chapter 10

“Jaime, how are you coping?” Cassie said cutting straight to the chase.

“Fine?” he responded clearly confused before dismissing her, “I can’t talk right now I am looking for Traci.”

“Jaime! Haven’t you heard? Bart is missing!” she clapped back angrily.

“What? He is?” Jaime muttered trying to process the news.

“Yes! How did you not know this? You two catch up almost daily!” she quipped.

“I haven’t seen Bart in like 3 days!” he defended himself.

“That’s when he went missing. Oh my god. This is all your fault!” she gasped.

“What?!?” Jaime ogled even in more surprise than Cassie.

“How is this my fault?” he yelled defensively.

“You’ve been ignoring him for that two timing Traci!” she quipped.

“What are you talking about?” Jaime snapped angrily.

“Bart confronted her about how poorly she had been treating you and asked her to be more caring towards you and she went all psycho on him and even burnt him with one of her magic bolts!” Cassie yelled.

“What? Traci wouldn’t do that!” Jaime said sounding completely sure of himself.

“Oh really? Because I watched the whole thing happen. Bart made me promise not to tell you! I shouldn’t have listened. I’m so stupid!” she said berating herself.

Jaime had no words. He stood there shocked. Mouth ajar. He couldn’t believe what he had just heard.

Cassie shook her head at him and stormed off. Jaime was angry. So angry that Khaji Da would have once chirped in approval but now tried to calm him down.

“Jaime Reyes your vitals are increasing to an-” Khaji Da began.

“Take me to her now!” Jaime ordered.

Khaji Da did as he was instructed and suited up and flew Jaime to Traci’s room in the watch tower on the top floor.

“Traci. Did you hurt Bart?” Jaime said eerily peacefully as he barged into her room.

“No.” she said not even looking him in the eyes as she lied.

Jaime ignored the scarab telling him she was lying. He believed Cassie and didn’t need further convincing. Plus her telling him that Bart had made her promise not to tell him was such a Bart thing to do.

“You’re lying.” he said through gritted teeth.

“Ok fine. I did. I didn’t mean to hurt him. It was more like a warning.” she said nonchalantly still not meeting Jaime’s gaze.

“We’re done.” Jaime said in the coldest tone he could manage.

“What?” she stuttered as she finally met his fiery gaze, “You’re not even going to give me a second ch-”

“Don’t even try.” he stated as he walked off in disgust.

“Khaji Da! Find Bart for me now.” Jaime instructed.

“I have scanned the entirety of Earth and there are no signs of him.” Khaji Da said with almost a tone of confusion in his always emotionless voice.

“How is that possible?” Jaime spat.

“There are a number of possibilities but all seem unlikely. He could be on another planet, in another time period or in another dimension.”

Jaime was refused to believe any of those options were true. A person couldn’t just go missing like that. And all the options Khaji Da had supplied all sounded ridiculous.

“Take me to the Allen family household.”

After zeta-ing over to Central City and arriving at the Allen house Jaime bashed at the door with no remorse for its structural integrity.

“Jaime? What are you doing here?” Barry asked.

“I am here to help you find Bart.” Jaime said charging into the house without permission. He had never been so brazen in his life.

“Thanks.” Barry said, “Was your scarab able to locate him?”

“No. He said Bart wasn’t on Earth? Apparently that means he has to be on another planet, in a different time line or in another dimension?” Jaime said doubt apparent in his tone.

“Oh my god. I know where Bart is.” Barry said snapping his gaze upwards so that his chin was at a perfect 90 degree angle to his body.

“Where?” Jaime asked desperately.

“He’s in another dimension. The speed force. We discovered he has the ability to go there a long time ago. That’s why I had forgotten. Ugh I’m so stupid!” Barry said as he face-palmed rather unforgivingly.

“What’s the speed force? How do we get there?” Jaime asked.

“You can’t. I don’t think even I can. But I’m going to try.” Barry said before dashing off as Khaji Da supplied Jaime with what limited information he about the speed force.

Barry ran as hard as he could thinking about his grandson. He was able to break about half of his body through the barrier before his molecules slowly got stretched back into reality. He tried a few more times and got even closer with each try until his energy levels began to deplete at the point he had gotten all of him through down to his ankle bone. He swore in frustration.

He threw his arms up in anger and ran home. He did not enjoy explaining to Iris and Jaime that he had failed. He told them about how close he had gotten.

“I am going to try again tomorrow. But I need to get my strength up and get a full night of sleep.”

Jaime was kicking himself. He didn’t want to leave the Allen’s house. He wanted to stay there overnight, and leave with Barry in the morning. He wanted nothing more than to know Bart was okay.

While Barry and Iris were talking, Jaime wandered up to Bart’s room. He walked in and let his nose be filled by the smell of Bart. It was nice a smell. He smiled and let tears run down his cheeks. He looked at all the clutter everywhere, and shook his head thinking about how much he missed Bart as more tears ran down his face.

“We’ll get him back Jaime, don’t worry.” Barry said leaning against the door way before Jaime walked over and hugged him.


	11. Chapter 11

Jaime was back at the Allen’s house as soon as the sun was up. He insisted that he come with Barry which was a silly request given there was no way he could travel at the same speed as Barry, or anywhere near it.

“All you can do is wait here Jaime. Besides, you should keep Iris company.” Barry stated.

Jaime sat next to Iris who was clearly struggling to keep it together. Barry was gone in the blink of an eye.

Barry tried and tried again but got no further than his ankle. He was so frustrated and screamed Bart’s name into the speed force as he phased partially into it. He hoped with all his heart Bart had heard him yell. Bart would have had he been near the area Barry phased in but he was on the other side of the planet.

Barry felt sick returning home. He felt like such a failure. He must have tried for over an hour.

Iris burst into tears when Barry returned with that tell tale look in his eyes that showed he came home empty handed.

He immediately ran over to comfort her.

“Jaime can you give us some alone time please. I’ll be in contact with you later.” Barry asked softly.

Jaime didn’t verbally respond. He just left. 

A week had passed and Barry had tried every day and his hopes were beginning to fade which led to his attempts becoming less successful until he couldn’t even break through the barrier at all. He had taken time off from the league and Iris was starting to worry about his mental health. Wally had gotten involved too but he wasn’t fast enough to even get a finger into the speed force if he tried. Not at this point in time. He didn’t know it, but from Bart’s timeline he was fast enough to.

Bart had gotten bored of watching stranger’s lives play out in front of him. It wasn’t distracting him from missing his family or Jaime for that matter, at all. He decided to go and watch Jaime so he ran over to Jaime’s house and watch. He was surprised to see Jaime crying on his bed. He wanted more than anything to hug him and him soothe. It tore him apart watching Jaime cry alone.

Jaime had also taken a leave of absence from the team. He couldn’t concentrate. His every thought was about Bart. He thought about him constantly. Not a second went by without thinking about Bart. He missed him. He felt responsible for having been the reason Bart had gone in to the speed force. He was back to himself. The old version of himself Bart had been trying to save the whole time.

Jaime eventually decided to go and grieve in the El Paso desert. Bart followed him.

“Bart. I don’t know where you are in the world. But I hope you can hear me.” Jaime took a second to inhale sharply as tears sprang to his eyes, he soldiered on, “I’m sorry! I’m so so so sorry Bart!”.

Tears began painting his cheeks.

“I never meant to hurt you. Yo era un jodido idiota! I let my feelings for Traci blind me. And I just-” Jaime paused to clench his fists, “... hurt you. I just want you back. I miss you so much! I will buy you Chicken Whizees for the rest of your life! Just came back to me please!” Jaime’s voice cracked as tears were violently streaming down his face. He couldn’t even see through the tears and he slumped on the ground, his knees crunching against the desert floor.

“I think about you every minute of every day. I’ve come to realize... I love you... Bart. I know this because I want to spend every day of the rest of my life with you. I would give my life to save yours. I want to hold you right now, embrace you, kiss you and tell you just how much you mean to me.”

“Well what’s stopping you Blue?”

“Well you need to come back to me fir- Wai- Huh?” Jaime swallowed trying to process the voice.

_It couldn’t be!_

Jaime had to rub his eyes because when he looked up it was all a blur and he couldn’t make out anything. After blinking a few times he saw Bart standing there with his hands on his hips flashing his classic speedster grin.

“Bart!” Jaime exclaimed trying to simultaneously scramble to stand up as quickly as he could.

Jaime ran the short distance and wrapped his arms around the speedster so tightly Bart audibly winced as the air from his lungs was forced out.

Jaime pulled back to look into his emerald green eyes to make sure it was really him.

They were shining wet with happy tears but this was definitely his Bart.

He dove right in to kiss Bart. Tingles ran in waves from the tip of Jaime’s head down to his feet. He felt the pulsating heat of Bart pressed against him.

Jaime pulled away. “Wait how much of that did you hear?”

“All of it. And I love you too.” Bart said quickly wasting no time to dive back into the kiss Jaime expecting as Bart’s eyelids lowered on his eyes highlighting his vision focusing down on Jaime’s lips again in the most lustful manner ever.

Hands roamed and they fought to show their passion for one another through the kiss and they achieved just that.

When Jaime did pull away for air, he panted, “Bart I really am sorry. I can’t believe it took me so long to realize! You were the only one who always loved me! Who had my best interests at heart! And I almost let you get away, and I’ll never forgive myself for that.”

“You have a lifetime to make it up to me. Oh and did I hear something about Chicken Whizees everyday? For the rest of my life?” Bart teased.

“For you I would do anything.” Jaime smiled.

“Well I really want to keep making out with you but I should let my family know I’m back first! Can we do that quickly and then go back to yours?”

“Sure.” Jaime laughed.

Bart picked Jaime up suddenly bridal style and began running. Jaime admired Bart’s strength. Truthfully, he had never really viewed Bart as hot until his moment. Jaime had definitely thought he was cute when he was younger and ignored those thoughts. But now he was definitely shifting from seeing him as cute to hot.

Bart nearly tripped and dropped them both when Jaime unexpectedly crashed his lips into Bart’s.

They luckily both made it home safely.

“Bart!” both Barry and Iris exclaimed simultaneously before running over to hug him, Barry obviously arriving way sooner than Iris.

Bart for the second time today had the air crushed out of him.

After a heartwarming reunion that Jaime stood and watched smiling, Bart excused himself from his grandparents. They weren’t too thrilled about Bart asking to leave so soon after his return but they let him go after he revealed he and Jaime were now dating and wanted some alone time. They were both happy for Bart as this was something they had suspected he had wanted.


	12. Chapter 12

Bart and Jaime silently walked into Jaime’s house so as to not alert anyone to their presence but Bianca caught them sneaking in.

“Bart!” she cooed and jogged over to kiss him on the forehead.

“Don’t you ever worry me like that again!” she snapped at him affectionately.

“Sorry Mrs Reyes.” Bart looked down.

“It’s okay.” she stated softly before turning to Jaime going in to full angry Latino mother mode, “Jaime I swear to god, if you ever mistreat Bart again I am going to ground you for the rest of your life! And another thing! It would do you good to ask this fine young man out on a date!” she snapped surprising herself with even that last part.

Jaime’s eyes opened widely. He couldn’t believe what his mother was saying.

“Uhh ma… I asked Bart to be boyfriend already. And he said yes.” Jaime said still with utter shock in his eyes.

“Oh! That’s wonderful! Gracias Dios!” she virtually cheered as she kissed both of them.

“It’s about time!” she snapped glaring at Jaime.

“Ohhhh!” Bart chimed.

“You meant me when you said there was someone you thought Jaime should be with!” Bart said feeling like an idiot it had taken him so long to catch on.

“Si!” she grinned pinching his cheek affectionately.

Jaime was still stunned.

“Wait did you two, collude together?” Jaime struggled for a better word.

“We may have.” Bart said as he grabbed one of Jaime’s hands with both of his own patting it as if to say, ‘Please don’t be mad!’.

“Wow.” Jaime laughed.

“I’m guessing you two probably need some alone time.” Bianca said, “Alberto! Milagro! Get in the car we are going for a drive!” she shrilled.

Bart and Jaime both blushed given the right of passage she was giving them both. They headed up to Jaime’s room before Alberto or Milagro showed their faces. They were tempted to challenge Bianca but they could tell she was in the zone and that she was not to be messed with.

Jaime relaxed more when he heard the family car pull out of the garage.

“So.” Jaime began, “You and my ma were talking about me huh?”

“Yeh she may have sort of… come to my house… to try and get me to break you and Traci up… and I might have… and then sort of lied my way back into your good graces by saying I was jealous… only to have another falling out with you… and then I got so sad I ran into the speed force and got trapped there… and then I finally summoned the will to escape after hearing your speech about me.” Bart rambled.

Bart looked at Jaime nervously unsure of how he would react.

He shook his head.

“I can’t believe you went to all that effort for me.” Jaime stated calmly, “I only dated Traci because she asked me out and I thought nobody else would be interested in me.”

“Well you’re an idiota.” Bart said as affectionately as he could whilst butchering the word causing Jaime to grin which was his intention.

“I am interested in you. Always have been. Always will be. I love you so much Jaime. I can’t believe I’m lucky enough-” Bart started before Jaime cut in.

“No. I’m the lucky one. I got you. The most crashest person ever.” Jaime said smiling as he used Bart’s lingo to convey how much Bart meant to him and he knew he had succeeded when the glint of happiness appeared on his lovely green irises.

“And don’t you forget it!” Bart warned cheekily.

“En serio, Bart te amo.” Jaime whispered as he leaned in closer to Bart.

“I love you too.” Bart managed to get out before there was no room between their lips for talking.

Jaime showed Bart just how much he missed him.

The next day Bart and Jaime woke up tightly hugging one another.

“Buenos dias.” Jaime voiced sultrily in to Bart’s ear.

“Blue you know I find you speaking Spanish a turn on.” Bart rolled his eyes.

“Qué está mal con eso?” Jaime teased.

“We will never leave this bed at this rate!” Bart whined.

“I don’t ever want to let you go.” Jaime said returning to English.

Bart chuckled. “Well we do have to go to the watchtower today for a briefing but you’re welcome to hold my hand as long as you want.”

Bart was surprised to find Jaime meant what he said. He held Bart’s hand the entire day. Whilst he and Bart got dressed, whilst they traveled to the zeta tube, and in to the briefing.

There were a few gasps between members of the team as Jaime proudly showed off his new boyfriend. Both Bart and Jaime were thankful Traci wasn’t there.

Cassie was the first to congratulate them, “About time!” she groaned.

“Couldn’t agree more!” Bart chimed looking over at Jaime.

Jaime sighed.

“I am making it up to him!” Jaime reassured.

“Yeh with Chicken Whizees! Amongst other things…” Bart grinned.

Tim sighed. Cassie laughed.

“Well congrats you two!” Cassie concluded before the briefing began.

They both thanked her before listening to the briefing. Nightwing asked them to stay behind after.

He congratulated them both and told them to go home and enjoy each other’s company for the day, he figured a recon mission would go more smoothly without the two love birds.

He had no idea how right he was because Jaime held on to Bart’s hand or another part of his body for the next 36 hours in a row. Until he finally let go finally feeling safe that Bart wasn’t going anywhere. But he had made a sizable start on catching up to all the times that Bart had touched him over the years. And he loved touching Bart. And Bart loved being touched. They both were deliriously happy and both of their families supported them. It was wonderful.


End file.
